About Us

Imagine being unable to nourish your body from normal food and drink...

Instead you have to rely on liquid nutrients being pumped or infused into your body through a tube. This maybe Enteral or Parenteral. This is your lifeline. Hopefully you won't be in hospital but will be in the comfort of your own surroundings. If this applies to you then PINNT are here to help.

PINNT's history

More than 30 years ago when four people had to adjust to life on artificial nutrition at home, they and their families had to cope with the daily practicalities and challenges of these life-saving, complex therapies by themselves. The medical support and care was excellent, but those people did not live with it, a whole new concept. These same four people decided that no-one else should have to go through that on their own ever again.

Out of that personal commitment our support group, Patients on Intravenous and Naso-gastric Nutrition Treatment (PINNT), was born. We have continued their ethos that PINNT should be run by patients for patients. We welcome support from associate members but primarily the patient comes first in PINNT.

Today PINNT is a national, independent, not for profit membership charity established for over 30 years providing mutual support and understanding to hundreds of adults and children and their families adapting to life on home artificial nutrition. PINNT provides this support direct via local and regional groups, online via forums and literature and a national telephone and email helpline.

This site is intended for all nutrition patients and their carers. We also welcome and work with healthcare professionals, industry (in relation to products and services) and the general public and of course, PINNT members, both adults and children.

Our aims are:

to promote greater understanding of the therapies amongst patients, potential patients and the medical profession.

to provide contact between patients

to work towards improving homecare services and range of equipment

have a united voice to campaign for a better, flexible and safer service.

To date we remain a core group of BAPEN (British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition) and network widely with the other core groups; nurses, pharmacists, dietitians and medics.

PINNT is proud of the relationships we have built with industry. We are able to call on them for support as well as work together to further projects and services which will enhance the quality of life our members so richly deserve.

PINNT have been asked by many external bodies for the user perspective and we take pride in many of the collaborations we have enjoyed with NICE and the NHS.

Over the years we have been able to network with other patient groups, both on a European and International level, and we will continue to do so in order to discover new information for our members as well as show casing what we have available in the UK.

Our role as a complimentary service to the healthcare provide has earned us a reputation of being friendly, co-operative and the ideal forum in which to discuss and convey the users perspective. Bringing together people in similar situations allows an openness some find hard to share with those close to them. Our finest achievement has been to get the voice of the patient heard. For many years others spoke on our behalf; now we have a platform to share our own thoughts and experiences.

PINNT continues to uphold that the patient comes first; we demonstrate this in our actions. We will support requests from members to the best of our ability and continue to provide the practical support for day-to-day living with artificial nutrition at home.

Our role is not to dictate but to work in partnership to achieve the best outcomes for patients and their families.

PINNT is a core group of BAPEN PINNT is a founding member of
and has been since its inception PACIFHAN